Jose Theodore Leads Colorado Avalanche Past Minnesota Wild

Theodore's outstanding goaltending and the veteran leadership on offense leads Colorado to a 3-2 overtime win in game one.

In a game where Minnesota heavily out-shot and out-played the Avalanche, Jose Theodore needed to be brilliant in net to allow his team to stay in the game.

He did exactly that.

The Wild out-shot the Avalanche 20-7 in the first two periods but went into the locker room down 2-0 after the second period.

Jose Theodore made 28 saves on 30 shots and was the key to the Avalanche victory on Wednesday night.

The Wild had plenty of scoring opportunities, but it was also the combination of failed attempts by the Wild and remarkable goaltending by Theodore that kept Minnesota off the scoreboard until the third period.

Mikko Koivu tallied one just three minutes in the third, and then was followed shortly by a Todd Fedoruk power-play goal just three minutes later to tie the game at two.

Colorado's goals came from Kurt Sauer on a brilliant pass from Joe Sakic and a tipped puck by Ryan Smyth in front of the net off a Jeff Finger slap shot.

It was Super Joe once again that stepped up and carried the Avalanche in overtime as he directed a rebound past Niklas Backstrom 11 minutes in overtime to give Sakic his eighth playoff overtime goal, a NHL record.

Marian Gaborik, the Wild's leader in points and goals this season, was silent and Brian Rolston, who scored 30 goals for the third straight year, was held to just an assist.